Maia Song Contest 1

Maia Song Contest 1 was the first edition of the Maia Song Contest. It was hosted in Björnska, in Farsknordi Central Arena which is located in the country's capital. The contest consisted of one grand final where all countries will participate. The host was announced as being Kim Chi, who also hosted the first edition of Björnskfestivalen.

Twenty-four countries in the Maia Broadcasting Union debuted in this contest. Galatia was originally set to debut, however they were forced to withdraw due to not selecting an entrant before the deadline.

Location
The event took place in Farsknordi Central Arena, the capital of Björnska. The arena has a capacity of approximately 49,000 attendees, with it being the first time the arena hosted the Maia Song Contest.

Bidding phase
Four venues were announced as possible venues for the competition to be held. BTV and the MBU announced the conditions under which cities and venues could announce their interest in hosting the contest.


 * The host city had to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must be available for at least six weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest
 * The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
 * The green room must be located as close to the arena as possible (or within it), with a capacity of 300.

On 30 May, the capital city Farsknordi announced interest in hosting the contest - naming Arena Musiken and Farsknordi Central Arena as possible venues. The same day, Nýstad also announced its desire to host the contest. On 1 June, Heimili Frammistaða was named as Nýstad's bid. The northern city Opkylä announced Störststadion Nord as its bid on 2 June. It was announced on 7 June that Farsknordi Central Arena had been selected as the first venue of the Maia Song Contest.

Host venue

Format
The contest consisted of one grand final in which all 24 participating countries performed. The confirmation period for entry submissions began on 20 June, lasting a week before it ends on 27 June. Entries could be selected via national final events or internal selection, to the discretion of the national broadcaster for each country. The winning country is the one who has the highest-score in terms of points at the end of voting, with points being allocated from each country in a system of 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs. A country cannot vote for their own entry.

The running order was decided by firstly drawing the place for the host, Björnska, who were allocated the 10th performance slot. Then, the remaining countries would draw either first or second half, and the final running order is then decided from that by the producers of the show alongside approval of the MBU.

Kim Chi was the opening act, performing "Fat, Fem, and Asian".

Final

 * You can find a playlist containing all twenty-four songs here. An official recap of the final can be found here.

A video showcasing the results can be found here.


 * 1.As the hosts of the contest, Björnska were randomly allocated to perform 10th. The other countries were also randomly drawn to perform in either the first or second half of the contest. Galatia was originally set to perform in the first half, until it was forced to withdraw for failing to select an entrant before the deadline.

12 Points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final:

Other countries
Eligibility for potential participation in the Maia Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active MBU membership that would be able to broadcast the contest. The MBU issued an invitation of participation in the contest to all twenty-five active members, with twenty-four of these confirming their debut at the contest. The following countries declined to participate, stating their reasons as shown below.

Active MBU countries

 * - Although their national broadcaster originally confirmed its participation in the contest, an entrant was not selected before the deadline, and so they were forced to withdraw from the first edition of the contest.

Replacement of Björnsk voting spokesperson
Two days after her selection, BTV announced that comedian Marjorie Dawes had been withdrawn as the voting spokesperson for Björnska and would instead be replaced by the model and blogger Papi Flacko. It was later announced on 10 July, that the reason for her deselection was comments made in an interview where she said "I don't care about the contest, I can sing better than all of them. Some of the contestants ought to eat some ryvita, because they're also grotesquely fat and it is promoting obesity". Björnsk Television later issued an official apology and condemnation for her remarks, stating "We do not feel, given her comments, that Marjorie is suited to have any role in this contest".

Political statement and partial nudity of Zycantian spokesperson
During the voting procedure, Zycantian spokesperson Shaniqua "Shaniqua Diva" Stevic removed the silver bra she was wearing, exposing her breasts on live television as she announced that Zycantia had given 8 points to neighbouring Arkaystia. Additionally, the hashtag #FreeViridia was painted on her breasts, affirming Shaniqua Diva's position on the independence of the island of Viridia. Filming crew quickly covered Shaniqua Diva, causing a momentary delay in the broadcast, before the voting resumed with several unidentified pairs of hands holding fellow spokesperson Luxy Tolvai and obscuring Shaniqua Diva's chest. The Zycantian Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) issued an apology for the incident after the conclusion of the program, before announcing that Shaniqua Diva had purchased the organisation the following morning and retracting the apology.

International broadcasts and voting
Please check the list of official rules before submitting a spokesperson.

Voting and spokespersons

 * 1)  Beren Saat
 * 2)  Emma Watson
 * 3)  Petra Mede
 * 4)  Wendy van Dijk
 * 5)  Danny DeVito
 * 6)  Klemen Slakonja
 * 7)  Antoine Griezmann
 * 8)  Emma Willis
 * 9)  Katya Zamolodchikova
 * 10)  Emilia Clarke
 * 11)  Shaniqua Stevic & Luxy Tolvai
 * 12)  Leslie Hall
 * 13)  Maggie Smith

 Kim Holland   Sam Trammell   Hamish Blake  Courtney Stodden   Papi Flacko   Danielle Cormack   Brendan Jordan   Nicola Sturgeon   Wendy Williams </li>  Lee Lin Chin </li>  Elizabeth Olsen </li> </ol>